Indian Highways

NHAI prepays Rs 56,000 cr to lenders in FY25 to save Rs 1,200 cr interest

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has pre-paid loans of worth Rs 56,000 crore during the current fiscal, helping the state-owned agency to save interest cost of around Rs 1,200 crore, a senior government official said on Sunday. The official told PTI that NHAI's total debt at the beginning of the current fiscal year was pegged at Rs 3.35 lakh crore, which stood at about Rs 2.76 lakh crore at the end of third quarter of 2024-25 fiscal year. He further said that around Rs 15,700 crore has been pre-paid from the InvIT monetisation proceeds, while Rs 40,000 crore prepayment of loan has been made to National Small Saving Fund (Rs 30,000 crore) and State Bank of India (Rs 10,000 crore), which charge high interest rates. "NHAI is successfully reducing its debt liability," the official added. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her last year's budget had retained the allocation to NHAI at Rs 1.68 lakh crore for 2024-25.

Jammu-Srinagar highway reopens after day-long closure due to snowfall

The 270-km Jammu-Srinagar highway was on Sunday reopened for vehicular traffic after a day-long closure due to heavy snowfall, allowing stranded vehicles to proceed to their respective destinations, officials said. However, several other important inter-district routes, including the Mughal Road, Sinthan Pass, Sonamarg-Kargil inter-UT road, and Bhaderwah-Chamba inter-state road, remained closed for vehicular traffic due to heavy snowfall. "The highway has been reopened today following the clearance of snow accumulated on various stretches of the road," a traffic official said. The stranded vehicles along the highway are being cleared, he added. "Passenger traffic is plying on the highway. Commuters are advised to follow lane discipline, as overtaking may cause congestion," J-K Traffic Police said in an advisory. It also advised commuters to drive cautiously, as the road is slippery between Banihal and Qazigund. The Mughal Road, which serves as an alternative link to the Kashmir V

PM to launch Subhadra Yojana, railway, highway projects in Odisha today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to launch the Odisha government's flagship women-centric initiative, Subhadra Yojana, besides other railway and national highway projects during his visit to the eastern state on Tuesday. PM Modi's visit to Odisha on his 74th birthday would be the first after he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on June 12. He is scheduled to reach Biju Patnaik International Airport here around 10.50 am, officials said. Under Subhadra Yojna, named after Goddess Subhadra, the sister of Lord Balabhadra and Lord Jagannath, all eligible women between the age of 21-60 years would receive Rs 50,000 over a period of five years between 2024-25 and 2028-29. An amount of Rs 10,000 per annum would be credited in two installments directly to their accounts. The initiative is expected to cover more than 1 crore women. PM Modi would initiate the fund transfer into the bank accounts of more than 10 lakh women during the day, the offic

Goodbye to toll plazas and waiting? Centre notifies GPS-based toll system

Vehicles equipped with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) On-Board Units (OBUs) will be able to automatically pay tolls based on the distance they travel

Morth to appoint non-technical consultant for faster highway construction

The objective of the appointment is to streamline the awarding and construction processes for highways by improving land acquisition procedures, according to a report

Indian highways, city roads may soon have dedicated two-wheeler lanes

Insights from government statistics show that an alarming 44 per cent of road accidents and subsequent fatalities in India involve two-wheelers

Stricter norms: Govt tightens noose around scrapping facility regulations

Industrial zones are classified into red, orange, green, and white categories, determined by a pollution index score derived from factors such as emissions, effluents and hazardous waste generation

NHIT plans to raise Rs 4,500 crore debt to buy two more road projects

The acquisition of road assets is set to be concluded in the fourth quarter

IHMCL removes PPBL's name from list of banks authorised to issue FASTag

Indian Highways Management Company Ltd (IHMCL), toll collecting arm of state-owned NHAI, has advised highway users to buy FASTags from 32 authorised banks sans Paytm Payments Bank for hassle-free travel. In a post on X, IHMCL said for hassle-free travel, buy your FASTag from 32 authorised banks. The 32 authorised banks include Airtel Payments Bank, Allahabad Bank, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, and Yes Bank, among others. On January 31, the Reserve Bank directed Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) to stop accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer accounts, wallets, FASTTags and other instruments after February 29. However, any interest, cashbacks, or refunds may be credited back to customers anytime. The direction followed persistent non-compliances and continued material supervisory concerns, the central bank had said in a statement. IHMCL has said it is encouraging FASTag users to complete the 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) .

Centre plans mega highways constructions to replace Bharatmala Pariyojana

Launched in October 2017, Bharatmala Pariyojana aimed to develop 74,942 kms of national highways with an investment of Rs 5.35 trillion

Govt explores ways to incorporate waste materials into highway construction

Draft policy by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways seeks to integrate Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 with National Highway construction

Slow progress in highway construction persists despite government push

Only 20% of the ambitious target of building 13,800 km of highways have been constructed so far for the financial year

India's highways infra to match US by 2024, work underway, says Gadkari

India's highways infrastructure will match that of the US by 2024 for which work in time bound 'mission mode' is on including construction of green expressways and rail over bridges, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said. He said cabinet nod to 'Bharatmala 2' is likely soon and once obtained it will meet the requirements of a robust infrastructure in the country. "I am confident that India's highways will be on par with that of the US by 2024. Work in a time bound mission mode is on to build a robust infrastructure including a network of green expressways across the length and breadth of India," Gadkari told PTI in an interview. The Road Transport and Highways Minister said in this year railway over bridges are being constructed at a cost of Rs 16,000 crore which will be increased to Rs 50,000 crore in five years. On the Kailash Mansarovar highway project via Pithoragarh, Gadkari said "Ninety three per cent work on Kailash Mansarovar project has been ...

IRB Infra up 4% as it emerges preferred bidder for Rs 2,132 cr BOT project

The company has fixed Wednesday, February 22, 2023 as the 'Record Date' for the purpose of determining the eligibility of shareholders for the purpose of sub-division /split in the ratio of 1:10.

Nitin Gadkari wants retail investors to pip institutions in NHAI InvIT

Next InvIT issuance will have higher reservation for retail investors, says MoRTH Secretary Upadhyaya

Highway construction slows down, one-fourth target achieved till September

The Covid-19 pandemic and an unusually long rainy season have kept the authorities from reaching the annual highway construction target of 12,000 km

Govt notifies logistics policy, infra ministries to devise plans in 6 mths

PM GatiShakti and will address logistics issues pertaining to infrastructure, processes, digital improvements, policies and regulatory reforms, and capacity building for better workforce

Nitin Gadkari invites US bizmen to invest in Indian highway projects

The minister recently announced that the NHAI InvIT will soon be open to retail investors, and will assure them a minimum return of 7-8 per cent.

World's deadliest roads in focus after Cyrus Mistry's fatal crash

Prior to the pandemic, there was one deadly road crash in India every four minutes, equal to 11% of all crash-related deaths globally

Firms preparing highway plan reports have to take govt training: Ministry

Nitin Gadkari recently blamed poor planning as a major reason for road accidents in country